Adventures in being a volunteer advocate to fight poverty while raising children. My insights are seen through the lens of motherhood and a desire to help moms uplift each other to make a better world for our kids.
By Cynthia Changyit Levin, @ccylevin

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Run Like a Superhero & Fight Poverty!

I love running. I love superheros fighting injustice in comics. I love fighting poverty and injustice in real life. So, when the all these things come together, I just have to shout it from the rooftops! Behold, the RESULTS Everyday Hero Virtual Dash where YOU can win a shiny hero medal for running or walking any distance, any time or day, any location you darn well please. Now, a fascination with race bling may not always be the healthiest thing. Sometimes I do feel like I'm channelling Wreck-it-Ralph: "I'm gonna win a medal! Oh, I am gonna win a medal. The shiniest medal this place has ever seen!" But you don't have to go through what he did in Hero's Duty to get your Hero Medal. $25 gets you a race bib with your name - for instance, "Hero Cindy" - to wear during your walk or run and a medal when you finish (possibly so shiny it will make all Fix-it-Felix's medals wet their pants) Proceeds go to RESULTS Educational Fund to help educate and train activists who speak out to Congress on behalf of people struggling in poverty in the U.S. and around the world.Even though it's a virtual event, there is an actual in-person component to it if you happen to be out in the Washington D.C. area. The actual everyday hero volunteer activists and their support staff are meeting in Crystal City area at the RESULTS International Conference and Lobby Day. They'll spend the weekend in a sort of activist boot camp brushing up their lobby skills and the learning the finer points of how Congress can pass smarter, more effective anti-poverty legislation. This kind of activity is where your registration donation goes...when these trained volunteers speak face-to-face with senators and representatives, your donation and others are leveraged to generate millions for people in the greatest need. Which is all well and good and professional, but what I really, really want to tell you is many of these intelligent, courageous people will also be dressing up in costume to run and walk together in public! You can join them from home by posting your picture to the facebook event site or just run/walk in normal clothes and silently chuckle over their pictures at home. Either way, you get to join in the fun, save lives of people in need, and get yourself a medal to remind you of how important you are in the fight to end poverty. So, I hereby invite everyone to check out the details at this registration link for the RESULTS Everyday Hero Virtual Dash and join me. See you out there!